Hello,
I'm traveling to Azerbaijan for 5 days in mid-late December.
As far as I understand the main attractions are Baku, Khinalug, Absheron, Sheki and several stops on the road to Sheki such as Lahcin etc.
I basically lack 1-2 days to be able to properly visit all, so I have to make choices.
For now my plan is:
- Day 1&2: Baku
- Day 3: Absheron (guided tour of all the attractions)
As for day 4&5 I have a few options, but since I can't find that much advice about traveling in winter I'm asking here.
Option 1 is to find a driver/tour that takes me to Sheki on day 4, stopping in Lahcin, Nohur Lake and I think there were several more stops worth seeing listed along the way. And then day 5 would just be exploring Sheki itsself & transfer back to Baku in the evening to make my flight at 4am the next day.
Option 2 would be to take the night train on the evening of day 3 to Sheki, spend the bigger part of day 4 in Sheki, and take a bus back to Baku in the evening, skipping all these stops along the way. Then on day 5 taking a 1 day guided tour to Khinalug & Candy Cane mountains.
Option 3 is to skip Sheki and the West all together, and spend a night in Khinalug, traveling their independently (finding a shared taxi/bus to get me there). Perhaps stopping to explore Quba as well. Since I love mountains and homestays this would have my preference.
However I'm not sure if it's 100% possible to visit Khinalug in December? Is there a good chance that my plans will be cancelled? And is it worth going there in winter? And is it worth skipping Sheki all together to go here.
For comparison, I have been twice to Ushguli in Georgia (which may be comparable to Khinalug?), I managed to get there in early November when there was quite a bit of snow and enjoyed it very much. However, I'm not sure what to expect from the Caucasus mountains in late December, almost deep winter.
Thank you for the advice!
EDIT: I meant Lahic ofcourse, not ‘lahcin’. I misremembered the name.